A stunning albatross helped Spain’s Alvaro Salto establish a one stroke lead over the Englishman Gareth Davies at the European Challenge Tour’s Parco di Monza. Playing the par five ninth hole at the magnificent Golf Club Milano, Salto produced a perfect two iron from 232 metres that pitched just short of the green before seeking out the middle of the cup, much to the delight of the watching greenside crowd.
That inspired Salto to a third round of five under 66 to move to an 11 under aggregate score of 202 – one clear of playing partner Davies, who posted his own excellent round of 67 to get to ten under par and become the main threat to Salto’s bid to end a six year wait for what will be the third Challenge Tour victory of his career.
Davies can also make it a hat trick of Challenge Tour victories with a winning final round on Sunday afternoon, while Frenchman Anthony Snobeck, who played himself into contention with a third round 68 for nine under par 204, is looking for his second Challenge Tour win in the space of three week’s, having claimed his maiden success at the Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata just a fortnight ago.
Argentina’s Sebastian Fernandez is just three off the lead on eight under par, while Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Denmark’s Thomas Nielsen and Spain’s Juan Parron are by no means out of the running on seven under.
But the man they all have to catch is Salto, who used his albatross two to haul himself to the top of the leaderboard. He followed his albatross with a good par three at one of the Golf Club Milano’s most difficult holes – the par three tenth – and then holed a fantastic birdie putt on the 12th from around 35 feet.
Speaking about his miraculous two iron at the tenth, Salto said: “I didn’t know whether or not to hit a two iron or a three wood, but I had been hitting the two iron well earlier in the round, and I knew that there was a bit of ground to run the ball onto the green so I went with the two iron, and it turned out to be the right decision.
“I didn’t think that it had even gone close because the crowd around the green took a while to react, but when they started clapping and cheering I thought that it must be close.
“That got the round going for me and I was delighted to hit a perfect three iron on the tenth and almost make the putt for birdie. After the birdie on the 12th I made some great up and downs on 11, 13 and 14, then a nice birdie on the 16th with a driver, six iron and two putts.
“I really enjoyed it – Gareth and I both played well. We knew we were both in the lead on the back nine so it was a nice competition, and even though you are leading you do not really want your partner to play badly. It is good if both players are playing well because you can inspire each other.”
Davies was similarly complimentary towards Salto, but he is hoping to outscore him on Sunday afternoon when they play together in the last group of the day. If Davies can pull off a victory he will add to an interesting statistic. The 27 year old has only ever had two Challenge Tour top tens – both of which were victories.
“There are two ways to look at that statistic,” said Davies. “In some ways it is not good and tells me that I have to be more consistent, which is something that I have been aware of for the last year and a half, but on the other hand – and this is how I will view it tomorrow – I know that when I am in contention I won’t give up or back down. I think that statistic can only be in my favour at the moment.”
